Look at Virgin Galactic, they've built a proven spaceplane and they have a much more humble goal of short sub-orbital space flights (that some of us might not even truly call space flights) and they've been delayed year after year on their plans. Like they're perpetually a year a way from their first commercial suborbital flights.

Look at Virgin Galactic, they've built a proven spaceplane and they have a much more humble goal of short sub-orbital space flights (that some of us might not even truly call space flights) and they've been delayed year after year on their plans. Like they're perpetually a year a way from their first commercial suborbital flights.

Now these noobs pop up out of nowhere promising the moon? Yeah right.

The difference is virgin/scaled are trying to fly a specialized vehicle they built themselves.This other plan is to buy commercial hardware from proven vendors like energia and SpaceX.

Will it work? Possibly.The trickiest part is to get the lander. Everything else is buying parts off the shelf and doing math.

way south:XMark: Yeah, I'm kinda skeptical, considering that these guys don't actually have a rocket ready.

Look at Virgin Galactic, they've built a proven spaceplane and they have a much more humble goal of short sub-orbital space flights (that some of us might not even truly call space flights) and they've been delayed year after year on their plans. Like they're perpetually a year a way from their first commercial suborbital flights.

Now these noobs pop up out of nowhere promising the moon? Yeah right.

The difference is virgin/scaled are trying to fly a specialized vehicle they built themselves.This other plan is to buy commercial hardware from proven vendors like energia and SpaceX.

Will it work? Possibly.The trickiest part is to get the lander. Everything else is buying parts off the shelf and doing math.

I can just see the CEO of Golden Spike reading your post and screaming at a subordinate saying, "I was told there would be no math!"

shroom:way south: The difference is virgin/scaled are trying to fly a specialized vehicle they built themselves.This other plan is to buy commercial hardware from proven vendors like energia and SpaceX.

SpaceX's Falcon rocket can launch 29,000 pounds to LEO. The Apollo CSM/LM stack was around 100,000 pounds. But good luck with that.

You break the ship into parts and put it up on multiple launches, dock in orbit, and proceed to destination.

shroom:way south: The difference is virgin/scaled are trying to fly a specialized vehicle they built themselves.This other plan is to buy commercial hardware from proven vendors like energia and SpaceX.

SpaceX's Falcon rocket can launch 29,000 pounds to LEO. The Apollo CSM/LM stack was around 100,000 pounds. But good luck with that.

The Apollo equipment could probably be trimmed somewhat using modern materials, and one could always launch the pieces on multiple rockets (LM on one rocket, CSM on another) and dock in Earth-orbit. In-orbit docking (with the space station) is something that SpaceX has already figured out.

Neil's footprints are probably long-gone. When they left the moon, the Apollo astronauts lit up a big rocket engine right where they landed. The footprints far from the lunar module are probably ok, but anything right next to the ladder (i.e., that historical one) was probably obliterated by being a few feet from a rocket engine.

Neil's footprints are probably long-gone. When they left the moon, the Apollo astronauts lit up a big rocket engine right where they landed. The footprints far from the lunar module are probably ok, but anything right next to the ladder (i.e., that historical one) was probably obliterated by being a few feet from a rocket engine.

The only nutty part is finding clients with that kind of cheddar.All of the technology besides the lander exists, and that last piece is probably something you can get from the people who build the rocket.

/Nutty is explaining why private companies are aiming to do the exploring instead of governments.

Was out. Just bought a bottle of Nakki Taketsuru 12 year old. Those Japanese sure know their whisky. It's very good. Maybe you can download the files and 3D print yourself a glass to my health.

Oh, and yes, this story is the purest, most insane, psychotically delusional Space Nuttery of the highest degree. Sure, maybe if enough rich people got together and they tossed enough money at a big enough cylinder and fill it with enough kerosene, we can boldly go where we went almost five decades ago. So what? The Moon is for all practical purposes, astronomically speaking, in our atmosphere. The Moon is still a barren hostile rock.

At best, we'll have a stunt for rich people. And? At worst, we'll never hear from this again. Just like the 1997 Japanese Space Hotel.